


in spite of the uneven odds

by tomkitty



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Concept Fic, Light Angst, M/M, Temporary Amnesia, fish and strange are in it but only for like 5 seconds, i made ed cry twice oops, it's near the ending, like slapping on a bandaid, quick fix ending, same with gabe honestly because he's in it too, sorry it's not more elaborate, three times if you look really close and use your imagination, well they're there in the beginning but they vanish without much explanation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-14 09:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10533852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomkitty/pseuds/tomkitty
Summary: Oswald Cobblepot gets amnesia. Hugo Strange gives him a new identity.aka the amnesia au nobody wanted or asked for but i'm giving it to you anyway (post 3x14)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask what happened here because honestly I don't know. It started out as just a concept about Hugo Strange being the one to save Oswald and then giving him a new persona but then it just sort of ran away with me and bam! Fic (in concept format, so lots of time jumps and telling rather than showing, not a whole lot of dialogue until the end). Honestly, this is just a self indulgent fic where I got to make Oswald blonde. Also I took away Oswald's limp because, well just because. But only temporarily because, well you'll see. If you choose to read this that is. 
> 
> Hopefully you enjoy it.
> 
> No beta. Any and all mistakes are my own.

“Doctor?”

“Yes?" 

"He’s waking up.”

“Finally.”

\--

It was dark. Everything hurt. The last thing he could remember was, well, he didn’t know actually. He tried to think back but there was nothing. He opened his eyes and found himself in what looked to be a bedroom, but it was bare. He was hooked up to a one of those machines that show your heart rate and had an IV stuck in his arm. 

“Welcome back, you gave us all quite the scare.” He looked towards the voice and saw a man standing nearby. He had a bald head, glasses, and was wearing a white lab coat. 

“Who-who are you? Where am I?”

“You don’t recognize me?” the man asked.

“N-no” he said, shaking his head.

“What an interesting development. I’m Dr. Hugo Strange and I’m in charge of this facility. You’ve been in an accident. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Accident? He nodded.

“Good. Do you know what day it is?”

He thought for a moment. “No.”

“Do you remember what happened to you?”

He thought again. Nothing. “No.”

“Lastly, do you know who you are?”

“Of course, I’m-” He stopped. Surely he knew who he was. He thought about it harder but nothing came to mind. Not a name. Not his parents names. Did he even have parents? Where was he from? How did he get here? “I don’t know. Do you know who I am?”

The man, Dr. Strange, smiled. “I do. Allow me to tell you about yourself. Your name is Chester Van Dahl and you were almost killed…”

\--

His name was Chester Van Dahl, the last living heir of the Van Dahl family. His father and mother had died due to their old age and Chester lived alone at the Van Dahl estate. He was a sheltered child, home schooled and never moved on to getting a job. He didn’t need to with his family's fortune. He came from a family of tailors who made suits for all of Gotham City’s elite, but after his mother’s passing, his father Elijah had closed down the business and passed soon after. Chester himself had never learned how to tailor so he couldn’t very well reopen it. Dr. Strange was the family physician. 

Apparently Chester was bedridden because he had been shot. Crime had been running rampant in Gotham for a while now, but the night that Chester was beaten and shot, a madman had turned off the power in Gotham and people were breaking into homes, looting and stealing, setting fires, and killing each other in the streets. That’s what happened to Chester; someone had broken into his home and shot him, it was most likely a burglary, or so he was told by Dr. Strange. Chester couldn’t believe it at first, but Dr. Strange showed him the news broadcasts from that night and with the news right in front of him, it was impossible not to believe. 

It was still a lot to take in.

“When will I be able to go home?”

“Not for a while I'm afraid. You still need to heal and you are in no position to travel. You’ve had extensive leg surgery that you will need physical therapy for but you can’t start that until you’ve had time to recover from your gunshot injury.”

Apparently, when he had been beaten by the crooks who robbed him, they caused severe damage to his leg. But Dr. Strange said the surgery was a success and that soon he would be walking again without even the slightest limp.

\--

“Will you really be able to keep him like this?”

“Of course I will. I’ve had Firefly and Mr. Freeze in my care for much longer and they still haven’t the slightest idea of who their past selves were.”

“I’m trusting you to do this right Strange, or so help me if you don’t…”

“You have my full devotion to this project. Do not worry Fish, I will not let you down. I want to see this experiment come to fruition just as much as you do.”

“Don’t call him an experiment. He may have done me wrong in the past but he is still my Penguin. My creation, and I will not have you ruining him. He’s been through too much.”

“Yes Fish. I understand.”

\--

The next few weeks were tough. With his wound finally healed enough, Chester had begun his physical therapy. His leg was weak and felt off to walk on, but he could stand up straight and could walk without even the slightest limp, it was a slow walk, but a walk nonetheless.

Chester looked at himself in the mirror, his hair was growing fast and his roots were drastically showing. When Chester first noticed that his hair was indeed black and not blonde he questioned Dr. Strange about it. He told him that Chester did it in memory of his mother. She had blonde hair but he took after his father’s black hair. Chester liked that, he must have loved his mother very much, if only he could remember. He decided that he wanted to continue dyeing his hair, even if he couldn’t remember her, Chester wanted to keep the blonde as a reminder of his mother. As a reminder that he once had parents who loved him and maybe someday he’ll remember them.

\--

Aside from Dr. Strange there was a woman. She went by Fish and every so often she’d come in and check on Chester, tell him stories and teach him things. Chester liked her, she was lovely, firm but kind. An old friend she said she was. She had taken him under her wing when he had no one and taught him the tricks of the trade. Apparently she used to be a club owner but had long since moved on to bigger and better things. Her club however, as she told him, she had left in Chester’s care. 

That’s what he had been working on before he was attacked. He was planning on opening a club. Chester Van Dahl. Nightclub owner. He liked the sound of that.

\--

“You really mean it? I’m all better?” 

“You are. Your wound has completely healed. You are free to go. Move back into your estate, open your nightclub, live life as you see fit.” Dr. Strange said with a nod.

“I took the liberty of calling up a few of your old staff members. Loyal to a fault they are, and they’ve prepared the mansion for your return.” Fish said. She had been able to get a few staff members back, ones who she knows will keep their mouths shut and not mention a word of who Chester really is to him.

“How will I be getting there? Do I know how to drive?” Chester asked. He was excited to be returning to his home. He imagined what it would look like and pictured it being a bit dated but in an elegant and refined way. He came from a family of tailors after all, they must have had class. 

“No, Gabe will be driving you.” Another loyal employee. Fish had seen the way Gabe was around the boy. Much like she, Gabe had taken quite the shine to him, treated him as one of his own. She knew he could be trusted. He had been skeptical at first but agreed to go along with it after hearing her reasoning behind it. “He’s been your personal security for quite some time now. Treat him well Chester.”

“Of course I will. What about my things?” Chester didn’t have much with him but he acquired quite a bit of clothing along with a few small items to make the room feel a bit more like home, not that he knew what home felt like. 

“Already packed up and waiting for you in the car. Now Chester, I know this may seem like a big step, going back out there into the world, but trust me. It’s time. Now go, if you ever need anything you can always call me. I’m still your family’s physician after all.”

“Thank you Dr. Strange. Thank you Fish. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

“Of course, my dear boy,” Fish said, brushing Chester’s blonde hair off his face. “Now go on, you’ve got a nightclub to open. Make me proud.”

“I will.”

\--

Chester had finally reopened up the club and business was booming. Thanks to all of the advice and tips Chester had gotten from Fish, The Iceberg Lounge quickly became one of Gotham’s hottest night spots in only a matter of a few months. For the most part Chester worked behind the scenes. He owned the club, oversaw all the business decisions, and was the first person informed if anything was happening that needed dealing with. But for the most part Chester was a shadow. No one except the upper staff spoke with him regularly and he rarely ventured out to mingle with guests. Another tip from Fish. Don’t let people know too much about you, lest someone try to take your club from you. Apparently the club scene was a very competitive market. 

That’s not to say that Chester was a recluse. He still needed to leave his office for business matters so it wasn’t as if people didn’t know what he looked like. A few people brought up that he looked like the old mayor but Hugo Strange had already told him all about that. How the old mayor did look like him but had been killed almost a year ago and that it was nothing to worry about. Chester believed him.

Most people who commented on it dropped it soon after though. Chester was nothing like the former mayor. He had blonde hair and a soft smile and no limp. His voice was kind as well. He had an innocent air about him and was very obviously non-confrontational. It was impossible not to like him within the first few moments of meeting him. There was no way this could be the man who had been charged with murder and sent to Arkham. He was too, nice.

\--

Several years down the line and the crime in Gotham had just gotten worse and worse. There were masked super villains running rampant throughout the city and a man dressed as a bat going around saving people and throwing said villains into Arkham. A masked vigilante! One that worked alongside the GCPD no less. Oswald couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. It was ridiculous but, that’s just Gotham for you.

Oh yeah, as it turns out, Chester Van Dahl wasn’t his real name after all. He was Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, assumed dead former mayor of Gotham and former King of Gotham’s underworld. His mother, Gertrud Kapelput, who had raised him on her own, had been killed by Tabitha Galavan under order of Theo Galavan. His father, Elijah Van Dahl, he didn’t meet until after his mother’s passing and he only knew him a short time before he was killed by his stepmother. A stepmother who he killed along with his two step siblings. After that he had become mayor but it was short lived because his best friend, Edward Nygma, attempted to murder him down at the docks after Oswald had killed his girlfriend. 

He had almost drowned. Then he ended up in Hugo Strange’s care and the rest well, it was history, and Oswald remembered it all. It didn’t take him too long to remember honestly. It happened about three years after the incident down at the docks.

\--

Chester had been making his way through Gotham on a trip to the bank when it happened. He turned a corner and walked straight into a tree. Or well, it was a person, but they might as well have been a tree with how tall they were. 

“Sorry, excuse me.” Chester said, taking a quick glance to make sure he was alright before stepping around him to continue on his way.

“Oswald?” the tree, no sorry, man asked.

Oh. Another one of these then is it? Might as well do this quickly. Chester turned to look at the man and opened his mouth reply only to not get anything out because before he knew it the man had grabbed his hand and had pulled him into an alley.

“Hey! Whoa! Let go of me! What are you doing?”

“Too many people around. Oswald. Is that really you?”

“No I-”

“But it can’t be you, you’re supposed to be dead.”

“See listen-”

"Wait what are you wearing?"

"What am I-what?" Chester looked down at himself. What was wrong with his clothes? He wore a dark blue leather jacket over a a gray shirt with dark blue jeans and boots. "What's wrong with my-"

“That's beside the point. How can you be alive? It’s been three years Oswald! Where have you been! How did you-”

“Would you shut up for five seconds and let me speak!” Chester shouted suddenly. He rarely shouted but this man would not let him get a word in edgewise and he really needed to be going.

The man standing across from him shut his mouth and stared at him with wide eyes.

“Sorry," Oswald said, giving the man a friendly smile, "I don’t usually yell. Now, as I was trying to say. Sir, I don’t know you but-”

“Ed.”

“What?”

“My name. It’s Ed," he said, looking at Chester with so much hope in his eyes. He seemed to be searching Chester's face for something. Recognition maybe? "Edward. Nygma.”

“Okay…" Weird. "Well Mr. Nygma, as I was saying, I'm sorry but I don’t know you. I know I look like Oswald Cobblepot, the former mayor of Gotham. I get that a lot, but I can assure you that I am not him.” He said it softly, his voice full of kindness and sympathy. Chester watched as Ed’s face visibly dropped. Sadness filled his eyes and his features contorted into one of immense regret and pain. Chester paused for a moment and considered the man’s face. This Oswald must have meant a great deal to him. “I’m sorry if he was important to you but really, he’s not me." Chester pulled up the sleeve of his leather jacket and checked the time. He was late. "I have to be going so, if you’ll excuse me.”

With that he turned, leaving Ed who just watched as Chester quickly walked away, not limping in the slightest, his unstyled blonde hair getting fluffed up in the wind.

\--

After that encounter he remembered everything. He had been home, thinking about the man with the sad brown eyes full of unshed tears, when it happened. It hit him pretty hard. All the memories came flooding back, his mother and father, working for Fish, playing both Falcone and Maroni, Jim Gordon and the GCPD, Hugo Strange and what happened at Arkham, and then there was Ed. Every moment he spent with Ed, everything that happened between the two of them, and that moment when he last saw Ed at the docks. When Ed shot him and pushed him into the river. It felt like he was losing Ed, the only person he ever truly loved, all over again. Even after everything, Oswald still loved him and he pictured Ed’s face when he saw him, he had looked so hopeful.

But, he quickly pushed those thoughts aside. He couldn't think about that. Couldn't even entertain the ideas of what it might mean for him, for them. Too much time had passed. Life goes on and so did Oswald. He decided it would be best if he kept up the ruse of being Chester Van Dahl. Chester was just a nightclub owner. Kind and unassuming. No one suspected that over the years Oswald had slowly been maneuvering his way through the Gotham underworld. Manipulating the major players until he had everyone doing his bidding as he was, once again, King of Gotham’s underworld.

The difference is that this time he didn’t let it become known. He only told a few trusted people, Gabe and Zsasz to name a few, and anyone who found out and threatened to expose him were dealt with swiftly. He didn’t kill them, no, instead he made an example of them. Taking away everything they cared about and essentially ruining their entire life. He made them suffer in a way that instilled fear in others and garnered respect. Oswald was ruthless and it would be known that he was not one to be trifled with.

\--

A few more years after that incident and there were some significant changes made. Once he had gained enough power he dropped the ruse that was Chester Van Dahl and revealed himself as being the one and only Oswald Cobblepot. Gone were the blonde hair and casual clothes that he wore for several years and in their place, his natural black hair and elaborate suits that had been tailored to perfection had returned. He also reclaimed his old name, Penguin, and incidentally enough, the years had taken a bit of a toll on his body so his limp had returned as well. 

He was the most respected crime lord of Gotham’s underworld, had control over Gotham’s most notorious gangs, was a major arms dealer, and still ran Gotham’s most successful nightclub. Things had certainly come full circle for him.

\--

Oswald heard a knock and Gabe poked his head through the door. “Boss?”

“Yes Gabe?” Oswald replied, not looked up from his desk. He was looking through some plans he had to upgrade the nightclub a little, to make it more secure for it’s more illegal activities.

“There’s a visitor here to see you. Should I send them away?”

“ No, it’s fine.” Oswald placed the papers he had been holding to the side. “Send them in.”

The person who walked through the door was the last person he expected. Dressed in a green, shimmery suit, a bowler hat, and carrying a gold cane with a question mark top, in walked none other than The Riddler. Oswald was taken aback. It had been years since he last ran into him, literally, on the street and even longer since their encounter down at the docks. 

“Riddler.” Oswald watched as The Riddler pressed his lips together in a thin line at the way he addressed him. “To what do I owe the pleasure of having one of Gotham’s criminals visiting my humble little club?”

“Drop the act. I know it’s you.” he said with a glare.

“Act? What? I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” Oswald blinked his eyes at him innocently. After years of being “Chester” Oswald knew exactly how to play people into believing Chester and Oswald were two completely different people. It was a skill that Oswald prided himself on being able to turn on and off at a moment's notice.

The Riddler faltered for a moment, blinking rapidly at Oswald before shaking his head. “Oswald I know it’s you, now stop it.”

The change back to Oswald was instantaneous. He smirked, taking on his usual authoritative air, the one he used to strike fear into his underlings. “Well that didn’t take you very long.” He had only made his reveal a few days ago at a meeting with some fellow crimelords, underlings really, they all knew Oswald was in charge.

“Word travels fast when it’s news about someone coming back from the dead.”

“Regardless, the question still remains the same. What are you doing here?”

Oswald watched as Ed pressed his lips together again and tightened his grip on his cane.

Oswald let out a sigh. “If you have something to say to me Ed, would you please just spit it out. I’m very busy nowadays.”

“Ed.”

“What?”

“I haven't heard you call me that in so long. Not since...” Ed trailed off and looked down at his cane.

Oswald couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “And whose fault is that?”

“Excuse me?” Ed asked, his head snapping back up to look at Oswald.

“I said, and whose. Fault. Is. That.” 

“It’s certainly not mine!”

“Not yours? Oh, I suppose you think it’s my fault then is it?”

“You were alive this whole time and not once did you come to see me or at least try to find me!”

“Well of course I didn’t! Why would I want to? You shot me and pushed me into the river!”

“And I’ve regretted it ever since!”

Oswald couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s rich coming from you. You left me for dead! And even left clues about my murder so that everyone would know that you were behind it all. Yes, that’s right. I saw the news about that. You were proud to have killed me.”

“I-,” Ed visibly deflated at that. “I won’t deny that I left clues, because I did, but I wasn’t proud of it. After you died, or after I thought you died, I had no one left. No one to give me praise or attention, not the way you had. I was ignored once again and I hated it. So I left clues in order to gain some of that attention back. I couldn’t allow myself to be ignored. Not again. I couldn’t go back to that.”

“Well as, touching as this little visit has been, if that’s all you have to say I’m going to have to ask you to leave seeing as I have some real business to attend to.” Oswald reached for the papers that he had placed on the side only to have to stop when Ed’s cane came crashing down onto his desk, blocking his path.

“Do you have a death wish!” Oswald shouted as he slammed his hands down on the table and stood up. “You come in here, take up my time, shout at me, and for what! What is it that you want Ed?!”

“I want you!”

Oswald fixed Ed with an incredulous look. Was he serious? The nerve! He chuckled then, softly, mockingly, and shook his head in disbelief before locking eyes with Ed. “And just what makes you think that I want you?”

Ed just looked at Oswald, his face crumpling a little bit.

“What? Did you just think that you could come in here, tell me that you want me, and all would be forgiven? That I would let you back into my life just like that? That what? Things could go back to how they used to be? News flash Edward! They can’t ever go back to that!”

With each new sentence he said, Oswald could see Ed’s face falling bit by bit. The man standing in front of him getting smaller and smaller, closing in on himself as he wrapped his arms around his body, but Oswald couldn’t stop. 

“You and I, we’ve hurt each other too much. No matter how hard we try be will never get back what we once had. Deep down you know this. You just have to accept it, just as I have.”

“You said that you loved me. That day, you couldn’t stop saying that you loved me… You said we needed each other.” Ed whispered, just short of pleading.

“You’re right. I did say it, because I did love you,” Oswald let out a sad sigh. “Do love you.” 

Ed looked up then and opened his mouth to say something but Oswald shook his head at him. 

“But that doesn’t matter anymore. We don’t need each other. Don’t you get that? Surely you can see that. Remember what you told me? Back in your old apartment, when you took me in and made me whole again? You were right, men like us, we’re better off alone, unencumbered, like you said. I’ve seen the things you’ve done as The Riddler. All the headlines? It’s impressive. You’ve done well for yourself on your own and you’re getting on just fine without me.”

“But I’m not!” Ed shouted, tears flowing down his face. When had Ed started crying? “I’m not fine! I’ve missed you so much Oswald, everywhere I go I see you, hear your voice in my ear. For ten years this has been happening! It’s maddening! It’s why I stopped you that day. It was the first time I had ever hallucinated you without the dripping wet suit or dead eyes or bleeding stomach. Even with the blonde hair I recognized your face. I was so sure that it was you and I was so happy and relieved to see you. You were real. But then you said that you weren’t you and my entire world just came crashing down around me. I’ve been so lost without you Oswald. It hurt thinking that I would never see you again. You don’t know how hard it had been, trying to figure out who I was, what I was capable of, who I could become. You were the only person to ever believe in me. And when you were gone I just, it’s been so hard without you.”

Ed was openly sobbing now, his arms wrapped tight around himself as he rocked his upper body back and forth. Oswald felt tears on his own cheeks and, when had he started crying? It didn’t matter. Oswald walked towards Ed and pulled him into his arms. “Hey, I’m here now. I’m here.”

“I’m so sorry Oswald. I’m so sorry. I love you. I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I love you. I didn’t mean it.”

“Shh, I know, I know.”

Oswald doesn’t know how long they stayed like that, him holding Ed in his arms as he cried, whispering reassurances in his ear and Ed repeating those three phrases over and over. _I’m sorry. I love you. I didn’t mean it._ Somehow they ended up on the floor, wrapped around each other and as they sat Oswald couldn’t help but feel guilty for upsetting Ed this much. 

“We make quite the pair don’t we,” Oswald said when Ed’s sobs had finally subsided. “Listen Ed, if I’m being honest, I didn’t mean what I said. I was just trying to hurt you with my words. I know we’ve both said and done things to hurt each other, and we may hurt each other again in the future but, if you’re willing to try, if you’re willing to make this work…”

Oswald lifted Ed’s head up so that he could look into his eyes, so Ed would know that he meant everything that he said. “Things won’t be perfect, we still have a lot to work on, but I can see that perhaps one day, I think we could be something great.”

“Do you mean it?” Ed asked. “You really want to try and make this work? After everything?”

“I do. I want you here with me Ed. Is that too much to ask for?”

“You’re all I want, so much it’s hurting,” Ed said, a look on his face that could only be described as hopeful. He was crying again. “I don’t want to be without you.”

Oswald wrapped his arms around Ed and pulled him close, holding on tight. “You don’t have to hurt anymore, I’m here, and I’m never leaving you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yep. That's it. Like I said, self indulgent aha!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!! xx


End file.
